Down-lights or NOT?

In our currently house they are directly over the bench and they work for me.

However, I'm not the most active cooks so I asked DW what she thought...she agrees directly over the middle of bench works for her. I asked her about leaning over - her response was "I'm five foot nuthin'...I can't lean over the bench enough to cast a shadow".

So my vote is over the bench...for what it's worth.

I guess there will be two schools of thought on this one....!

You need lights over your bench AND in the kitchen!

We were advised at the colour & electrical selection centre to place the pendant lights near the rear edge of the island bench because of possible shadows from working over the bench, from lights either directly above or from behind in the kitchen. Even with lights directly overhead your hands still cast a shadow over the chopping board, if not your craniums! I take on board what some of you have said about this not being a factor, but our arrangement will also give an aesthetically pleasing even spread of lights across the family/kitchen areas.

Here you can see the 6 downlights in the family room, the three pendants, and the two in the walkway of the kitchen. There's also one 'north' of the island bench, and another directly in front of the pantry before the rest continue in a line to the entry. We have left the meals area as a standard batten holder for now, maybe fitting matching pendants over the table at a later stage.
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Oh, and my understanding is that they should be roughly to the proportion of 4 for each 3m x 3m. That being the case you would need about 10 -12 lights for that area to light it sufficiently.

Ray.

I found this site quite helpful
http://www.tillyslights.com.au/FAQ%20Ha ... lights.htm

bit of it....
Try to keep the downlights at around 800mm - 1000mm from the walls, any further and you will find that the angle the light comes out of the downlight will not hit the wall if downlights are placed further than 1000mm. The light from downlights looks good when it hits the walls of the room.
Try not to place downlights any further apart than 1500mm - 2000mm, any further apart and you can get shadows start to form between the lights because the light from each downlight no longer overlaps. Note: This rule works for ceiling heights of 8ft or 2400mm, if the ceiling height is higher, you can move the downlights a little further apart. (This is because the beam of light created by the downlight will spread out more the further it gets from the floor).
If over a kitchen bench then you have less distance from the lights to the bench top and so you will need to place downlights closer together (ie 1000mm)

Hi there.

With downlights, there are some GOLDEN rules:
- start about 600mm in from and corner of the room (based on 2400 ceilings).
- keep them about 1.5m apart.
- always keep them in straight lines, and
- always use a FNV globe (50w with 60degree beam spread).

Downlights are a modern flush fitting, that is suitable to any home. Whether you are building contemporary, heritage, ultra-modern, etc, downlights will always suit.

Keeping this in mind, if you feel that running them in straight lines will mean 2 or 3 more lights, consider running them off a dimmer, or separate circuits.

Also, there are newish downlights called "compact fluro" downlights. They are really good, but beware of dimming, as most of them don't dim, and those that do, aren't the best.

Maybe consider a nice pendant or chandelier which would look fantastic over a dining table, as once you are seated at the table, there is so much head space.

In the bedrooms, you can either run with downlights, or maybe you can create some character with a pendant also. Don't forget a table lamp, for those nights when you want to sit in bed and read a book.

Last but not least, the kitchen. Try an use a white light in the kitchen. Whether that is a fluro (there are some really nice ones these days), or even some hanging lights. If its the later, make sure you buy some cool white lamps, as white light in the kitchen is so much more preferred over yellow light that is given off by downlights!

All in all, there are so many lighting solutions, that will ultimately create mood and atmosphere.

Hope this helps!

Hi there Aulyna_1

LED lights are fantastic, but only for highlighting things!

Personally, i wouldn't be using them to light up a room.

Hope this helps.